The Sun. — London, England, 1838-03-07 00:00:00

Government was in 1836 in as uesettled a position as it was in 1834. —( Cheers.) Yet they were to be told that the Ministry had not been idle in adjusting the affeirs of Canada. Lord Aberdeen relinquished office in April, but in doing £0 he left behind him the instructions given to Lord Amherst with his Signature affixed.—( Loud cheers.) Thus, Lord Glenelg came into office with the double advantage of being able to avail himself of the labours of his two predecesso s.— ( Hear, hear, bear.) Did he avail himself of those ad voltages ? Did he avail himself of the final despatch which Wan said to be almost ready on the 15th of November ? No, A commission was of course to be sent out..—( Loud Cheers and laughter.) But the commission was not con fined to one ; that would be too despotic for a Liberal Go vernment, and it was increased to three—and these three were so selected as to comprehend between them every pos sible shade of political opinion. The necessary result was of course insured, and there was a most happy unanimity of dis erepany. —( Laughter.) On one point, however, they were all agreed as the mildest course to take, namely, to adopt, in 1836, the identical measure which he (Lord Stanley) recom mended in 1834, which had the sanction of the Cabinet of Earl Grey, and which also had the sanction of another au therity, and which he ( Lord Stanley) considered a very high one in all matters relating to Canada. namely, the sanc tion of Sir J. Kempt.—( Cheers.) That was, however, the only portion of the advice of the Commissioners which her Majesty's Government had not followed.—( Hear, hear.) Receiving no evidence other than they had in 1834, her Majesty's Ministers came down to the House with the resolutions which were passed in 1837. One passage in the Report of the Commissioners was peculiarly worthy of re. mark. It related to the proposed change in the Legislative Council. The last Commission, like the others which preceded it, •indioated that body from the obloquy to which it had been so frequently subjected. The Commissioners stated that though the French inhabitants, especially those of the lower classes, wero in favour of the elective change, the British were not, and then they continued with the following remarkable passage ;—" Turning now to the consequence of an Elective Council we are not to suppose that the party now so violent in demanding it would sit down in quiet thankfulness if it were granted. It is looked to, we must consider, not as an empty nsme, but rather as a means towards further ends. Neither are we left entirely in the dark as to what these ends may be. We will not enter into the field of conjecture as to the various steps which might mark the progress of their demands, but simply point out that two at least have already been announcsd which it appears to us, whilst England has a shadow of autho rity, it must be impossible, because dishonourable to grant." Such was the language of 1836 ; but it was not until 1837 that resolutions of the Noble Lord opposite were brought forward. When they were brought, however, what was the result.—( Hear, hear.) There was no distinct positive opinion contained in them as to one of the disputed topics.„ For the delay in all these proceedings not Lord Glenelg but the Government was chargeable, and that was the difficulty which would render it hard for him, and those at his side, to agree to the motion for the Hon. Member for Leeds. The resolutions were passed, but no Act founded upon them was brought forward.—(Hear.) The resolutions were transmitted to Ca nada, but what steps were taken to convince t he colonists that the Government at home was in earnest in passing them ? The result which had been foretold had taken place. The re solutions had proved most irritating. Ministers had been fore told by the Agent of the House of Assembly that the result Of the resolutions would be blood. What was the natural consequence of the course which Government had thus pur sued? Was there an individual in Canada who did not natu rally infer, from what had already taken place, that if they Pressed their claims more strongly the resistance to them Would, in a proportionate degree, become less violent.— (Hear, hear.) This inference the whole conduct of Ministers warranted. He (Lord Stanley) did not wish to in dulge in allusion to persons, but he would ask was there any per son in the House who used stronger language with respect to Canada than the lion. and Learned Member for Dublin ; and what must the Canadians think of the resolutions sent out, when they saw that Hon. and Learned Gentleman enjoying so large a portion of Government favour? The whole course of Ministers had been quite the contrary to what it should have been. They were vacillating when they should be firm, and harsh when they should conciliate. Delay seemed to be their whole policy. In 1836 Lord Glenelg promised to de vote his whole mind to the state of the Canadas. Nothing, however, was done until the Noble Lord opposite came down with his resolutions. Then there could be no measure founded on them until they passed the Lords, though no app rehension whatever could he entertained of their being rejected by the ether House. With regard to the Executtvc Council, what unaccountable delay had taken place ? Lord Gosford, in 1 836, made certain recommendations for the appointment. In May, 1837, Lord Glenelg informed him that he could Lot agree as to the names which had been selected.—( Hear, hear.) . Month after month passed, and Lord Gosford endea voured to make selections of proper persons to be recom mended. How did the Colonial Secretary at length act? Why, he sent out his despatch to Lord Gosford, saying, You may select any nine persons whom you may choose to name.---( Hear, hear.) After twelve months' mature consideration—or rather, he should say mature vacillation — this was the course that Government thought proper to adopt. (Cheers.) On the 6th of March, 1837, Lord Clench; in a communication to Earl Gosford , signifi ed his intention of pro bably increasing the military force at his command by the ad dition of two regiments. They were to be sent out in the I nconst an t frigate What a happy and appropriate name . The n avigation was - then ' open. Here it would appear from the de spatches that the time for vacillation had passed. This was on th e 6th of March. On the 22d of May, Lord Gosford writes that ho had expected the troops. This was not un natural, as they had been promised. Lord Glenelg, however, Sent word that it was not then possible to detach them. It had been stated on high authority that there was a sufficient force it; Lower Canada to put down any insurrection which might arise. This, perhaps, was true enough ; but was it suffi cient to prevent the loss of life which had taken place, and all t he miseries incidental to such a state of things amidst the severities of a Canadian winter ?—( Cheers.) What were the oPitiions in the neighbouring nations ? What were the discus sions in the American papers, and the calculations with respect to the 38,000 troops, or whatever the number was, which would be blockaded in Lower Canada when the winter set in ? These were not his own calculations, but calculations such as these were made in America. The winter in Canada was pe ell!iarly late this season. The insurrection broke out before t he period contemplated by its leaders. Had counsel been kept 7,-.-had the mine not thus unexpectedly exploded—it would be mffieult to say what might not have been the consequence. One other circumstance was singularly favourable, and he was h appy to take that opportunity of paying a deserved tribute to the handsome manner in which the central Government of America had behaved in this trying crisis, and maintained the 33 " of neutrality.--( Cheers.) Placed as they w ere in the heart of a population over whom the law had lit t l e control — surrounded by States from which, if wo were assailed by acrambling troops, we were so circumstanced that we should the th e l ast to comp l a i n—w i t h t h e w hole border in a state of 'tie most extreme excitement, with the natural democratic feeli ngs of the people inflamed in favour of a cause which they 1 • ooked upon as their own cause, and in a position to be at once excited by those acts of supposed aggression which it w as almost impossible to avoid. The Central Government under these circumstances, and to the hazard of its own popu larity, adhered to its treaties and preserved its neutrality. lie would be the last to speak disparagingly of the Noble Lord at the head of the Colonial Department. lie respected his private character, and gave hint full credit for his abilities ; but to claim for him foresight and energy was to ask an acquiescence in the two qualities in which he w as particularly deficient. Neither would he detract from ile cha racter o f t h e F renc h C ana dians, but it was well known that their ignorance was profound, their prejudices in veterate,_ and their 'vaunting egregious. They had, howe ver, ;Zan)* good qualities, and were misled by wily intriguers from bring attachment to the mother country. If they were to that people back to their former attachment to this country, their measures must be framed on the principle of giving them their just rights ; but, at the same time, no lucre than their just rights—( Hear, bear)—and of never throwing out hints about giving them that which they never intended to give them. In conclusion, then, he must say, that though he did not charge her Majesty's Government with all the calamities that had occurred, yet, if they had not exhi bited such vaccilation, both in regard to their language and conduct, the evil of revolt would not, in his opinion, have arisen ; and they would not have been necessitated to have reeourse to the terrible alternative of shedding the blood and ' - uspending the constitutional rights of their fellow-subjects. ( The Noble Lord resumed his seat amidst long and reiterated cheering. ) a Sir CHARLES GREY, seeing the nature of the motion I F i ainst the Noble Lord (Glenelg), was anxious that those e ‘ llo Item what appointment he ( Sir C. Grey) had held in with this part of that Noble Lord's colonial policy 1 7, 14 d not be under any mistake as to his opinion upon that Piety. Before they rose that night that motion, as well as proposed as an amendment by the Noble Lord (the t cl;nber for Liverpool), must be disposed of.—( Cries of .‘ No," o u from various parts of the House.) It did appear to him se at lea the motion was not only in some degree ungenerous, but h o e t there was a want of generosity in o ther Hon been . Mem. 1 0 ? of that House upon this question, and lie had at a sa to account fur it, except in the supposition that the Go sernme i eav nt would turn round upon a wounded companion_ and N o ; him altogether to his fate, or that the adversaries of the „ °le Lord ( Glenelg) were desirous of trampling on a fallen irY, end disposed to join with the Hon. Baronet the Mein s_, .for Leeds.—( Hear.) He rejoiced, however, to find him tr(l)l disappointed in this respect.—( Hear, hear.) The mo ut he confessed, appeared to him to be objectiona ble on c onstitutional grounds, inasmuch as it singled out one in 11,1volual, an d cal l e d upon t h e H ou se so vote an address to c fiClajesty w ith rega rd to hirn—( Hear, hear)---thus, as it t eemed to hi m, sanctioning an interference with the preroga tive of the C rown .—( Bear.) The light he viewed it in was Ini t e (31. extreme injustice. The forms of th e House did not, ad off Lord Glenelg being heard in his own defence, and head , not the same protection afforded him that would be granted c t he meanest culprit—( Hear, hear)—and although he ( Sir Grey) was aware that motions like this mi g ht at p n j time be made, yet he was confident that it was the House could forget that the Noble Lord who til a i s the object of it was fully entitled to protection, on the broad , ot c and principle of common justice.—( Hear.) There was ' contended, one single word or argument offered to it °re that Lord Gletielg deserved a voto of want of me fi eenr_c°•( Hear.) The course of the debate, however, had nodergeme a change, and now be left Lord Glenelg to be de e e t ioc e d by others, his conduct and merits' being now merged in uki ' n e of the defewhole Cabinet. He should not think of under g the nce of the Ministry, when there were so many die so much more competent than h imself to do so ; but c ircumstan ces of his baying been much in Canada, and one of those Commissioners who had been commented upon in the most handsome terms in the course of the evening, induced him to make a few observations respecting what had been said of them ; and he would first observe, that it did ap pear to him that, if this debate was to b. 3 considered as a ge neral censure upon the Ministry, and a trial of strength be tween two great parties, the occasion for making it was by no means well chosen. lehad the:character of a pitched battle, and it appeared to him that the public would think it a most ex traordinary proceeding that, immediately after a great and important measure with respect to Canada had been passed, that very moment should have been chosen for such a trial of strength—( Hear, bear)—and for a direct censure upon that very Government with which the Hon. Gentlemen opposite had allied themselves in passing that measure.—(Hear, hear.) There was such a remarkable degree of disagreement among Hon. Gentlemen opposite, and there had been such differences of opinion expressed by both Houses of Parlia ment upon the subject of Canada, that it appeared to him to be anything but an easy matter to pass a vote of censure upon the Government with regard to that question. —( Hear.) [The Hon. Baronet then entered into a defence of the Coin iniecionerv, but almost the whole of his observations were itiau dible in the Gallery.] In the spring of 1834 the ninety-two resolutions were passed in which were compromised the whole of the unreasonable demands made by the French Canadian Assembly. It was only from that period that the present Ministers could be held responsible. The whole of the.diffi culty had originated in certain acts which had taken place be fore Lord Glenelg had come into office. The dispatch of the Noble Lord ( Stanley) opposite, which appeared at the end of the evidence of the Committee of 1534, tended to increas4 the irritation which had grown up in the Assembly against the Legislative Council, which was the root of all the evil. He (Sir C. Grey) would not say that the policy of Ministers had been sufficiently decided, but he could not, on the whole, conclude that they had in any assignable degree eon tributed to produce the disasters which had unhappily taken place. What were the acts of the Government since 18' 3 5 which could be complained of? It was charged against them that they had appointed three Commissioners instead of - one. —( Elem..) That he could not consider an act likely to create rebellion. Lord Aberdeen had sent out Lord Amherst not to inquire but to demand, and then—to do something else ! He (Sir C. Grey) felt assured that had Lord Amherst made that peremptory demand he would have stood a worse chance of conciliating the Assembly than the three Commissioners, and then what would be the something else which he wonld have to resort to ? Another charge made against the Go vernment was the delay in passing the resolutions of last year. —( Hear, hear.) He ( Sir C. Grey) did not think that delay had any tendency to create rebellion. It was also argued that persons had not been named in proper time to improve the Legislative Council. He knew it to be then impossible to find persons who would be satisfactory to the French Cana dians, to appoint to that Council without irritating the feelings of the British party. In the papers on the table of the House were the resolutions of the Assembly sub sequent to the addition to the Legislative Council in which that improvement was stated as being considered by it a fresh insult, because their other demands were not accecded to. Again it was said that effective means were not employed to check the growing discontent. But there was no danger apprehended in 1835, nor in the subsequent year, by any mi litary man. The Noble Duke of Wellington had given it as his opinion that the presence of a greater number of troops than had been dispatched to Canada was not required. Upon what ground could Ministers, then, conic to the House, and in a Committee of Supply ask for the maintenance of forces for which there was no necessity ?—( Hear, hear.) He came to the conclusion that there was nothing brought home to the Government as proving that they had, or could, in any way, be considered as having caused the troubles that had ensued, although he would not say that more decided measures should not have been pursued.—(llear. ) Mr. BROTH ERTON then moved the adjournment of the debate till this day, and the motion was agreed to. Mr. BERNAL brought up the Report of the Committee on the Navy Estimates. The resolutions were agreed to, and leave to bring in the necessary Bill was given. The other Orders of the Day having been disposed of, the House adjourned at a quarter before one o'clock. HOUSE OF LORDS, .211410 g 6. quote the page which contained both the representation ce those persons and the statemept of_ his Noble_ Miens' at tie head of the Colonial Department. The Noble Lord's state mint was, that in toesequeoce of that representation, it would be impossible for any man to make such apprentices for a less period than five years in the colony of Guiana. Fe, the purpose of removing _all obstacles, and of fecilita ting and encouraging the importation of such apprentices. the Noble Lerd thought the time should be ex tended to five years instead of three. Therefore that was the object of the Government. They endea voured, with their eyes open, to encourage that tram, which they were bound to discourage. For the sake of rendering the traffic as easy as possible through their sanction of the traffic, and by their combination with those engaged in it—they increased the time. On the dis• tract statement in words, such was the object they had in view. Nothing was so easy as to talk of importing free men—of im porting labourers—and of increasing lands, but he would call their attention to what was rons:dered by all who had considered th.e subject in the East and in the West. to be the most cruel and inevitable abuses of that traffic, and which in fact it had al ready proved to produce. Ile asked their Lordships to cast their eyes back upon the system and progress of the slave-trade, of which all of them had heard, and many had seen so much. It was impossible that anything more degrading and disgusting could be found in the history cf the human species. But it was his candid opinion that it was only in ignorance or forgetfulness that an order in Council such as that which he now referred to could have been issued. He ( Lord B.) would venture to say that slavery was by far the greatest speck, the blackest chapter, in the annals of ow species ; and when the great satirist, speaking of tie perfidy of courts, and the cruelty of camps, termed them at once the most bloodthirsty and the most contemptible, had he substituted for statesmen's perfidy, and soldiers' cruelties, the atrocities of the Slave-trade, he had never been charged with exaggeration. It was remarkable, that, from whatever cause, the traffic in the persons of their fellow. men had been in all ages, more or less, the crime of human nature. First, in a savage state—it was ob servable that when our great navigator discovered islands hitherto unvisited by civilized men, he found there were various shades of slavery—whether under the form of apprenticeship, or in the more undisguised form of bondage. Slavery had also polluted the most civi lized and refined nations of the earth. And it was a strange fact, that in this very country, which prided it self so highly on its enlightened civilization, and, by a singular reverse, in Bristol, there had been a great emporium of the Roman slave trade—both slaves by name as well as nature, or apprentices... And both forms of boadige were also to be found in this 'eetintry under the feudal system. There was the villein in gross —the slave absolute—that could be sold, like cattle, by the head ; and the villein re garrlant —adscriptus glebes—the slave, under a mitigated bondage—a kind of contract, or apprenticeship, for a term of years. A great change took place iu the system of slavery soon after this period. A mode of conveyance by cara van was adopted from Africa, through the deserts towards the coasts, the signa s-rvoram of that unhappy continent, which had so long performed this service for the rest of the world, and by which other nations had been sup plied for domestic purposes for many centuries. But this was a kind of slavery which, compared with that which now bore the name, was scarcely deserving of t h e appe ll at i on . ' enjoyingaendt master,mb l paacrkaent and sometimes comfort— livinga a c in the obtaining a e in ini domestic ng it)irioem s fo l a a tvi v oo e nu had b l f ü b htis tehnpatron m st history of mankind—that blackness greatly deepened by the slavery that followed—the Spanish discovery ; and, as if to plunge Spain from the pinnacle of glory to which Columbus bad raised it, it fell into the lowest abyss of crime, and cruelties were enacted all over the world which were calculated to make Spain the subject of deep, inextinguishable, and universal execration. The Indians were seized upon, treated like cattle, worked to death, and almost extirpated ; and it was not until their taskmasters found they were likely to be deprived altogether of a supply, that they seriously bethought themselves to take to another course, and out of which course arose the African slavery, casual and accidental for a time ; but then it was for the purpose of supplying the want of labourers in the New World that Africa was to be made desolate, and her chil dren to be carried across the South Seas. Applications were made to merchants—memorials were presented to the Down ing-street of Madrid, to the Spanish Secretary—representing that it was necessary hands should be supplied to work the mines and cultivate the fields ; that there was a great diminution of those hands in India, which had theretofore furnished them ; that five per cent.—that seven per cent. were lost, and that soon no hands would be found there at all—that the Spanish Monarchy would be ruined, and that universal desolation would be the result, if a supply of labourers was not found. Ho (the Noble and Learned Lord) might read some of the letters in the papers which had been laid on the table by the Noble Secretary for the Colonies—he might cull out the applica tions that were shown to have been made in those papers, and he might say that what was stated in the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries to the Colonial Secretary of Madrid was to encourage or facilitate the slave trade ; to furnish such a supply of labourers, such an introduction of hands, such a supply of emigrants, as should be beneficial to the coun try; and he used the different phrases that danced throughout the pages of those papers. A man, Bartolomei de las Cans, one of the greatest philanthropists, a man who occupied the position which his Noble Friend ( Lord Glenelg) now occu pied, except indeed that lie was at the head of the whole, that he was Prime Minister of Spain rather than the Colonial Secretary, though filling that office admitted the grievances that existed, admitted the crying evil of the crimes, and that there was nothing which ought not to be done to put a stop to such proceedings ; but he said, that though he was for protecting the Canadians, he did not understand that left-handed justice which should induce him to shut his eyes to, and withhold his hand from, the case of Africa ; and that therefore the specula tors in African human flesh should receive no help from him. The Cardinal died. He was succeeded by a young Emperor, ignorant of colonial affairs, and of con siderable fortune, and for the sake of an augmentation to his income of 4,000/. or e,OOO/. a year, he laid the foundation of African Slavery. This went on for two centuries to desolate the Continent of Africa. For two centuries, and nearly three, this scourge of the Africans continued without intermission ; and after incalculable misery had been inflicted, after a world of injustice had been per petrated, after every species of crime which human nature could be guilty of' in all its varieties, there arose in our own country, one, who, from a strict love of justice—a love of justice strictly so called—who came for. ward to raise Lis voice against the horrors of African slavery—. every one would honour the revered name of Thomas Clark son. All the other survivors, with every one of whom he bad had personal communication, since this Order in Council in an ill-fated moment was issued, had declared they were alarmed, disappointed, and mortified, beyond what their language had the power of expressing. 'The course which Thomas Clarkson, with Granville Sharpe, and others toelt, was not by any kind of comparison half so powerful as that adopted by that most venerable man, whose name was associated with Thomas Clarkson's, and would go down to the latest posterity, and be revered as long as virtue, piety, wisdom, and eloquence were admired by men—lie meant the name of the late Mr. Wilberforce. He would now remind their Lordship of what was most germain to the prevent matter—he meant the kind of defence then made for tho now universally condemned The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack at five minutes past Five o'Clock. The Duke of RICHMOND presented a petition from the Guardians of a Union of the Poor in Norfolk, praying that the assessments of cottages might be placed on the landlords, and not the occupiers. When a measure of this sort should be brought before the House, it undoubtedly should have his support. Lord RADNOR presented a petition from Highworth, in Wiltshire, praying for the abolition of Negro slavery. The Marquis of SLIGO presented a petition from (as we understood) Calder, to the same effect. The Earl of ROSEBERY presented a petition from the Royal burgh of Stirling, against any further grant to the Church of Scotland. The Marquis of SALISBURY, after putting a question to Lord Melbourne, which was not heard in the Gallery, moved for certain returns respecting a reduction of the Cavalry. The Duke of DEVONSHIRE presented a petition from Derby, praying for the reduction of postage. The Bishop of EXETER moved for certain Canadian re- turns respecting clergymen in holy orders. SLAVERY. Upon the Order of tho Day respecting the slave question being read— Lord BROUGHAM rose and said—Of all the subjects that had engrossed the attention of Parliament, that upon which he was about to address the House this night had at all times been possessed of infinite importance ; and if after struggling in the public mind, and struggling in the Chambers of the Legisla ture, for years and years, there was at last a change— one of the most brilliant victories which the cause of truth and justice had ever obtained—he would venture to say that now, while we had ventured to hope we had reached the last stage, and that the controversy was almost extingwished by success—that now, when not the Slave trade only had been condemned by the unanimous judg ment of mankind pronounced on mature consideration, but when the state of slavery itself had bad the same sentence pronounced upon it ; and when the only doubt that remained in men's minds, or upon the matter, was the precise moment when that sentence, so pronounced, should be carried into full execution—he would venture to say that the Slave Trade Abolition, instead of losing, had gained in interest; but he also added, that that disappointment must be bitter which would arise from finding that even the Slave-trade had not yet been extinguished. When he looked at the Order in Council to which he had promised to direct their Lordships' attention, and compared its frame and its ne cessary consequences with all that past history had taught us of the slave trade, he had a right to express the feeling of the bitterest disappointment that he was now towards the middle of the 19th century, and full fifty years after the slave trade abolition was for the first time discussed in Parliament, compelled to grapple with such a motion as this. No man could accuse him upon the present occasion of bring in:, forward a measure, or being about to propound a vote which implicated the Government, or was anything like a censure of the Government, without having given them ample warning. It was upwards of six weeks since he dragged to light this reluctant Order of Council. He said dragged to light a reluctant Order of Council, because, how ever important it might be admitted to he, it never had ob tained the accustomed publicity of such documents by any publication in the Gazette. He found the practice had not been uniformly to publish those documents. The practice oas more honoured, nevertheless, in his mind, " in the breach than in the performance." He had found that that which, of necessity, was private in its nature, viz., a resolve of the Queen or King in Council, and which made the law for the Crown Colonies as absolutely, and with as full authority as with a Statute passed by King, Lords, and Commons made the law of this realm, ought not to be recorded in the books of the Council alone, where none had access but the clerks of the Council alone, ought to be promulgated to the people, in whose favour it was made, or against whose interests it was enacted, or whose concerns it governed. lie had made that Order the subject of complaint in that place, and standing there, lie detailed the heads of the reasons for which in his mind that Order was worthy of all condemnation. He had said—rescind what never ought to have passed, and he would not make another remark. Withdraw what improvi dently issued, and he would comment not upon the issuing of it. He had waited six weeks and upwards, and that suggestion was proved to have been thrown away, and the Order in Council, of the merits of which be was about to speak, was persisted in, and was now to be debated. No man could say the Government came to this matter unwarned by him. No man could accuse him with having stood by while the mischief was brewing, and having only cried, " I warned you when the event was over." He had with his own eyes seen that charge in print against him. If he had not seen it lie could not have believed that his conduct on the Cana. , dian question bad been so described ; yet lie had been vilely, impudently, and falsely aspersed for such conduct on that question.—(Hear, hear, hear.) He had found it recorded to the Government press, that he was one of the " juggling fiends who cried out, ' I warned you,' when the event was over." " That juggling fiend, who never spoke before, But cries, 1 warned you,' when the deed is o'er." He had heard of quotations being apt and appropriate— rrid be had heard disputes as to their comparative merits; but generally he thought the palm for the most felicitous quotation was due to that application of an elegant Latin sen tence to Dr. Franklin for his philosophical experiments, and the liberation of America : Eripuit ceelo fallen sceptrumque tyrannis." But none could deny the claim of the Government scribe to the palm for the falsest and most unappropriate quotation that ever had been made.—( Hear.) So far from being a jug- *ling fiend, who did not cry, " I warned you until 'the event was o'er," ten months before the • rebellion he had denounced the colonial policy of the Government, and had foretold that it would produce rebellion, and, to make the falsehood and the inappropriateness of the quotation the more marvellous, he never twitted them when the event was over by saying he had warned them. A week ago he had denounced the Order in Council, and now he was driven to grapple with it, because it was pertinaciously maintained. He should re-state what he had before possible. It appeared th a t th e r egula• said as shortly as tion made in March, 1837, respecting the importation of labourers who could be apprenticed by indenture in British Guiana iim;.ted the term to three years. But no man could find it worth his whjle to import cargoes—for such was the wor d—cargoes of human beings for an app rent i ces hi p o f t h ree years.---(jjem-, hear, hear.) 'Therefore an application was made on ropre rotations which conyinced the Go vernment that, unless au CI-ensio4 of ta e time was given to those engaged in the traff i c! , Po4id not import any such cargoes. If any one doubted what be said, s ae could system of slavery.—( Hear, hear.) The slave-trader took high ground—he was not to be put down be said by senseless calumny. He was not to be cowed by taunts of pretended philanthropists—that was another of the expressions then used.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.") lie was not to be driven from his honest occupation, in which he had been encouraged by the Legislature, by any affected threats of exaggerated humanity. That was another expres sion used. But he would show the African was better off in our colonies than he was in his own country, and that the importation of labourers, for that was the phrase, was as useful from whence the supply was drawn as it was necessary to that whether the supply was directed. Ge neral Tarlton said, " The Africans themselves had no objec tion to the Slave Trade ; that people were led away by a mistaken humanity and misrepresentation ; that there were only five deaths in five hundred, whereas in their own regiments 10} per cent. was the mortality on the same voyage." The gallalt General cited an authority to show how much happier the slave was there than in his own colony. He cited the authority of a Governor, two Admirals, a Captain, and a Commodore—all naval officers. He would also read an extract from al speech of Sir William Young, who said—" Far be it from him to defend a traffic in man, but he did not regard the African trade in that light—he utterly denied that general system of kidnapping which was alleged to prevail on the coast of Africa, and which was supposed to be the great source of the supply of slaves; he maintained that they were brought down either by their own voluntary consent, or else as prisoners of war ; and that, but fur the tender mercies of the Liverpool trader, they would be left, in the one case, to be massacred by their savage captors:, ~r, in the other, to perish of famine from the sterility of their native soil " Sir William Young then goes on to point out the several colonies which it would be utterly impossible to cultivate, if the Slave trade should be wholly abolished, and this, he said, was particularly the case with Guiana — Guiana, my Lords, that self-same colony which now crie4 out for liberty to import slaves from all the territory of Africa, as well as from all the numberless provinces that come within the charter of the East India Company. It was this same Guiana to which Sir W. Young referred in 1791, as furnishing the grand reason for allowing the continuance, as a matter of necessity, of the African Slave Trade. Colonel Phipps, upon the same occasion, contended that the African race were all slaves ; and fur the purpose of showing that the African slave-trade give no stimulus to the practices by which slaves were made, and by which men were controlled and coerced to allow of a et. own exportation from their own native soil, Colonel Phipps entered into a statement, by which ho endeavoured to prove that every negro embarked on hoard a slave-ship was taken there by his own free will. In some instances, perhaps, the embarkation might have been volun tary ; but this did not diminish the enormity of the crime com mitted ; f,;- nine out of ten of the poor creatures who were deluded into this step, placed themselves in the hands of the w bite traders under the firm conviction that they were to be (serried to a free country. They had no idea where they were rains , es • Many of them had nev er seen t h e sea . T o g ive them an idea, therefore, of a West Indian island, or the na ture of a voyage at sea, would be about as easy as to give them a notion of the transactions in another planet. Me morable, my Lords, was the answer Which Mr. Pitt gave to the trash I have just been quoting. Memorable were the words which Mr. Pitt then used; and would to God that his successor could now bear them Would to Qnd that the , same Tar*, 000 1,h9 cpt.o flow respAd its l!is THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1838. sar I So for ever should we see put down the last pretence, the last shadow of possibility of defending, by mere quibbles and the grossest sophistry, such measures as ace now adopted. Alas, alas !" exclaimed Mr. Pitt, " von trade in human beings like merchandise; making them the subjects of your commerce; ,nd you refuse to allow them the benefit of that great law of ,i 1 human commerce which says that the supply trill ever suit itself to the demand." But the defenders of slavery were not to be put down by this; and, accordingly, upon another , ceasion, within the same year, the selfsame arguments were advanced—the same comparisens were drawn : the happiness of the slave in America and the misery of the negro in Africa were contrasted in the same manner as before for the purpose of showing, in behalf of the parties engaged in the traffic, that the result of that traffic was not only gainful to themselves, but productive of the greatest blessings to the negro.—( Hear, hear, hear.) Upon this second occasion to which I refer, Alderman Watson, the representative of the city of London, was heard to say, in his plane in the House of Commons, thr.t " the negroes were token, as every one knew, from a worse to a ',Ater state." New, I beg your Lordships. to give me credit for not having alluded to one argument, one incident, one ex pression to which I am not going to show you a parallel topic% a parallel argument, a parallel expression in the papers now before you, relating to this Order in Council of which I com plain. Mr. Alderman Watson said—" That if humanity were concerned in the question, he should be as ready to support the motion," namely, a motion brought forward by Mr. Wii berforce, "as any man. The fact was, however, that the na tives of Africa were taken from a worse state of slavery in their own country to one more mild. He recommended it to the Committee to soften the rigours of slavery by wholesome regulations, but not to adopt so rash a conduct as to rote the immediate abolition of the trade." I never yet heard any slave trader, front the year 1778 downwards, who, in resisting the abolition of the trade, did not set up as a defence to it that it was carried on under regulations the very best the wit of men could devise. Yet everybody knows that the regulations so loudly vaunted were in fact, however well in construction, ut terly useless, or rather utterly disregarded in practice. Every body knows that as long as the trade was kept alive it was a mere mockery to say that any regulations which Parliament could devise would affix limits to its iniquities, or mitigate the cruelties which it entailed upon its victims. Then I am told, and that is one of the arguments used with respect to those who I fear, will become the victims of the Order in Council—" Be not disturbed—discard all apprehensions of cruelty —you may trust to the interest of men—rest assured they will not overcrowd their ships with passengers—they will not. feed them too little, nor constrain them too much—they will./not disregard their health nor their comfort—above all their health, because it is the interest of these persons to carry to the Mauritius or to Guiana, not only as many negroes as they can, but to get them there in as healthy a state as they can." Such were the arguments ad vanced in the debate to which I have referred, in 1791, and such, also, are the arguments which I have advanced at the present day. All the horrors, the cruelties, the. atrocities, the murders of the middle passage—all the enormities and wickedness, that man can commit upon his fellow-crea tures—all these, we are told, are idle stories, mere fabri cations, gross calumnies, unworthy of notice—talus, wonder fully exaggerated tales, with which the advocates and de fenders of the Slave-trade ought not for a moment to be taunted. We shall soon see that the horrors of the middle passage are not confined to the Slave-trade properly as called ; we shall see that, short as the time is, the apprentice ship traffic will produce evils strongly resembling, I will not say exactly equalling, for that I believe to be quite impossible, but strongly resembling the horrors of the Slave - trade itself. The Noble and Learned Lord went on to quote passages from Sir William Young's book upon the West Indies, in which the condition of the negro race in the British West India islands was described as being the happiest and most enviable of any class of beings upon the earth. These w ere the pictures which were given in Parliament, and attempted to be palmed upon the country, to show the great advantage to Africa and to the ncgro, as well as t o th e p l anter an d t h e co l on y, of a contiau aiTcer°' of the Slave -trade. Here were the statements which were made to show the total mistake, the strange and extraordinary error of those who held the monstrous opinion, that it was cruel and unjust to carry over yearly from the coast of Africa to the British colony a number of human beings, amounting in number to not less than 75,000. It was held by some persons that it was impossible such a traffic could be allowed to go on, whether the human beings who formed the staple commodity of it were called free labourers, industrious apprentices, or honestly and frankly, that which they were—slaves. That opinion gra dually gained ground and at length became invincible ; but for a long time the supporters of it were deemed mere visionaries, and, upon all occasions when the subject was mooted, were met with such arguments, such statements, or such assertions as those to which he had referred. But, notwithstanding all the efforts of the slave traders and their supporters, their doom was pronounced. To the immortal honour of the Administra tion of 1806, Lord Grey, in concert with Mr. Wilberforce, and with many others in Parliament, as well as out of it, brought forward the measure which would hand his name down to posterity with as great glory as that which had ever attached to the name of any Statesman ; a measnre which he ( Lord Brougham) reckoned, and which he believed his Noble Friend ( Lora Grey) also reckoned, the happiest act of the whole of his public life. Having described the circumstances under which this measure was introduced, and the triumphant manner in which it was carried through both Houses of Parliament, the Noble and Learned Lord proceeded to narrate the pro phecies which were made, of either destruction to West India trade, andalso to ex property by the supporters of the slave for plain the projects which were opened by certain parties obtaining free labourers from China to supply the deficiency occasioned by the reduction:of the number of the African ne groes. This latter project was brought forward by Mr. Bar hsin and supported by Mr. Anthony Brown ; but indignantly and successfully resisted by Mr. Stephen, Mr. Huskisson, and Mr. Canning. The Noble and Learned Lord then referred to the traffic in slaves which for some years past had been going on between some of the ports of Asia and the Mauri tius. He (Lord Brougham) had introduced a Bill, and carried it through Parliament, t which rendered thi s t ra ffi c in slaves not merely contraband, but an actual felony. Yet, in spite of that Act, it was proved before Mr. F owe l Buxton's Committee, and admitted by Sir George Murray, at that time the Colonial Secretary , that in the course of a very few years not less than 25,000 slaves were introduced into the Mauritius. So great in that island wa s th e d es i re for fresh hands, that the parties interested did not hesitate to commit 25,000 capital felonies in the course of a very few years. He regardedat the Mauritius, therefore, w ith grea t jealousy and great suspicion ; and the mor e so, b ecause, f rom its position ( the castwayd of the Cape, th ere was th e greatest possible difficulty in the way of putting an effective check upon the importation of slaves either from Asia or , from the eastern sho res of Africa. The Noble and Learned Lord entered into a lengthened statement of the manner in which the slave-trade was carried on in that quarter of the globe, with the view of showing how difficult, a t suc h a dis tance, and upon shores so little known, it wou ld b e f or t h e British Government to obtain any effectual security against the continuance of the trade. When the King of Prussia, in the face of civilized Europe, upon the very banks of the Rhino, the Oder, and the Moselle, was enabled t o carry on a system of crimping, to take even priests from th e a lt ar , an d send them, firelockin hand, k to join the ' ranks of hi s own t roo p s i —when this was done n the heart of Europe, how ceuld it b e arts of the slave.trader upon the ba iks of the expected that the wily a nd vi on the eastern and unexp l ored coasts of Africa could be successfully encountered and his trade de feated The Noble and Learped , Lord then a d verte d to the Order in Council of the 12th ofJuly, 1837 the effect of which, he con tended, would be to encou rage , not to supprt ss, the continuance of the slave-trade in those very regions where, from the circumstances be had described, it was so difficult to introduce any arrangement by which it could be miti gatedits se verity or diminished in it s amount.—(Hear, in hear.) What did the O. d i der n Coun c il d o i n the way It specified no amou n t o f of arrangemen t? tonnage, no pro portion of slaves, no height betwe en d oc k s, no quantity of wa t e r to be found , no amount of provi s io n t o b e provided— all was left to the discretion of the parties interested, who were to pa y due attention to the observance of some few specified par ticulars. Let this be c ontrasted with an emi grant ship about to leave the shores of England. The ship was ready to sail from the Thames, the Mersey, or the Severn—she was to eouvey a number of skilful, in. dustrious, well-infermed workmen from the shores of England, either country, or perhaps t o seine distant colony. tier t c t r i e s w on o ie n ine r li d buriug , o her flog hoisted, her anchor speak, her sails unfurled, the breeze favourable, every individual passenger on board more anxious to go than the Captain to take him. Shall the go ? All her salts are full, save that one whit's, dangling loosely from the yard, intimates that she is ready to go if she may be per mitted. Shall she go ? No : the Act of Parliament interferes to prevent her. The Act of Parliament says she must stay to be examined. The Act of Parliament says, " Come ashore, you Captain, and show that you are fit to command this vessel. Come ashore, you Surgeon, and show by your testimonials from Surgeons . ..hall that you are qualified to take charge of the lives o f human beings. Come ashore, you crew, and prove that you are qualified to work such a ship." At least, however, it m i g ht be supp osed that the emigrants may remain on board. But still the Act of Parliament says No. Still the Act of Parliament says— " Come ashore, you emigrants, and the King's officers shall marshal you, and shall inquir e into every one of your cases." So jealous, so suspicious was the law of England with respect to the danger to which the subjects of the Crown might be exposed, of being carried aff by fraud or force. And why was the law of England so jealous, so sus. picious ? Becaus e i t was made by mon who had well weighed all the liabilities to abuse to which individuals under such circumstances were subject—because it was made by men who knew that wherever any course of pr oceedings was open to abuse it would be a bused—because it was made by men who know that if they could not prevent voluntary emigration, they might at least prevent hundreds and thousands of per. sons from being transferred by wholesale to a distant country, there to fill up the places of those who had fallen victims to oppression, and excessive toil. Let the emigrants be adults, let them be well informed and experienced, the law said that they must be examined by the pro per officers, lest, peradventure, a single Englishman might be kid napped and carried into slavery. And then came his Noble Friend with his order in Council, an order to be executed in places where there was no Custom -house, where there were no Custom-house regulations. Knowing what the law in En g land was ; knowing that no vessel could leave an English port with a single passenger on board, althou 1 h with his own consent, unknown to the proper authorities, under a penalty of 5001.; knowin g all this, his Noble Friend issued an order its Coun cil enablin g thousands of human beings to be shipped off from the Ganges, as well as from the nameless rivers that abounded on the east exist of Africa, on the borders of which there was not only no Custom-house, but where, with the exception of the crimps el Asia, and our own slave.traders, and the slave-traders of Portugal and Spain, Ito footstep of European could be traced. He was willing, however, to put the question in the fairest and the most honourable view with reference to the individuals who were thus conveyed fro.n their native shores. He was willin g to suppose that teiey suffered no in;ury or inconve nience eitht r on shore or in the .nil lie passage i he was winj:;, g to suppose that their voyage was v o l untar y on the:A' part, acid was per. funned witholt dangil Or distress. But he would now :Urn for a moment to the state of the labourers tn the colony to chili thesethest individuals Wore Going, and consider how they were treated. condition of those kabourers had by law been converteet Oils gf o i soltits alave:l7 'y4 one of" alivrenticeship i and by law, on the Ist of August, 1540—but as he hoped, on the lot of August, 1538—even that state of appr a t t n the (Lord Brougham) te , eshi, was to cease, and they were to become entirely free. . o —just at the moment when they were about to e mo ment when these persons were to become free and ar i n nd a u s st i T i r u , i u o s e u t h s s s v ,: r g k e t s ne a l s t they could bi for o t r h d e er su i p n po c r o t u o i f ie t il h e p m rep a a n r d ed th f e o ir r moment fa thej t e i s o t in a i t ,e t t ! . o t a i t e v , er o y f m e !i wholesale,,,i,o were able e o f t o ot w h e e r r k aabnodutroe rlisv from t,t, p n o other almost nothing. f he And ‘'‘Ut)ri thatl was done by way of justice and kindness to the emancipated Africans,,he '— and to encourage them well to use :heir newly-acquired flee lom 1 Th e y were to enter into competition for labour with Asiatics who would be happy to engage themselves for five years for a handful of rice al s it t la . pinch of pepper a day! Could anything be conceived so unjust? w pose a similar case were to occur in Sussex or in Kent, or in any of those English counties in which a competition of labour was most dreaded by the labourer, let their Loadships fancy what would be theco ue con sequences.—(Hoar.) He would suppose that in Sussex (under mild government of his noble friend near him) it was reported that three or four thousand Coolies were coining from India. Suppose it were stated by the authorities at the Coloni.al-ollice that the wages of labour. ers were too high in the county of Sussex, that the farmers could not afford to get a sufficient number of hands to till their estates, and there fOre that it woo intendca to introduce into the county a few thou-ands of Asiatic labourers, in aid of the native labourers, to cultivate the far. tile fields of Sussex and relieve the over worked labourers there, and that it was determined to use all manlier of means, natural and un natural, to introduce this mass of new labour ; not leaving, as was the usual principle, the supply to wait on the demand, but giving every possible facility, by an order in council, for the introduction of an un. limited number of persons willing to work at twopence a day, and overjoyed to receive fourpence—suppose all this; he would not say that i:isurreetion, he would not say that busnings would be the consequenee, but lie would say that the Colonial office would be iminedietcly beset by the Lord-Lieutenant, by the deputy-lieutenants, by the magistrates, by the clergy of the county; and that if the projected Order in Council had not been secretly issued, without having been gazetted, it never would make its appearance. Net a fraction of the people of this country could be treated as the Order in Council under discussion treated so ex tensive a population. It was certainly true that the unhappy Africans were treated as Providence had net permitted any other nation under the sun to be treated. Everything united to oppress them. ANr hav ing endured all the evils of slavery, without mitigation, as soon as they were deemed worthy of liberation, as soon as it was decided that they should become fl'ee labourers, they were to be exposed to a competition of the most oppressive and unnatural character ! But that was only a small, aud perhaps the smallest, part of the evil. Let their Lordships turn to the contemelation of the evils to which the natives of the east coast of Africa and of the coasts of Asia would be exposed by the exc. cution of this Order in Council. As far as the experiment had yet been tried, its consequences to them had been most fatal, The Nohle and Learned Lord proceeded to quote the opinions which the merchants and planters of the Mauritius had expressed with reference to this new traffic. They spoke of it as the most inoffensive and agree able. But how did the labourers like this irruption of Indians? " Oh! very much : they wore quite happy 1" He (Lord Brougham) imagined that they had not been so happy since those halcyon days to which he had already alluded, when 25,000 felonies had been at once committed there. It was not long since that a Creole of the name of Letord had had the courage, the unflinching effrontery, to propose to Governer Nicolay a plan of obtaining, by a bargain with some of the native chiefs, no fewer than 20,000 Africans, for the purpose of assisting in the cultivation of the plantations. This plan M. Letord called "projec d'entancipation Africaine."—(A laugh.) This plan reminded him of an eccentric individual, whom he once knew at the bar, anti who was always prepared, if any one would give hint pen and ink, to show how the national debt might be paid off in half an hour.—(A laugh.) It might be said that this project was too broad; that it was a downright renewal of the slave trade. He (Lord Brougham) would, however, defy, the most astute of their Lordships to show a single part of M. Letord's plan, which would not be practicable under his Noble Friend's Order in Council. That order was unaccompanied by restricticu of any kind ; their was no prescribed tonnage, no description of equip ment, no limit of cargo. What was there to prevent the plan which M. Letord had projected far the Mauritius frosts being carried into effect in Guiana? To that plan Qovernor Nicolay sent g polite answer, stating that he had read its details with great attention, but tieing a most unqualified refusal to adopt it, as he considered it neither more nor less than a renewal of the slave trade, however specious the pretexts under which it was brought forward. But he should be told that there was a part of the Order in Council which would prevent the evil he apprehended from it. Of that part he must say that it was the most inefficient, absurd, and ridiculous attempt to carry any purpose which he had ever known. In the first place, let their Lordships consider what that purpose was. His Nolole Friend had said that if under the name of apprentices, labourers should be recruited on any part of the African coast, it would be de clared that that was an encouragement to the slave trade, and we should be charged plausibly, if not justly, with insincerity in our wishes to put down that traffic. And why not justly? His Noble Friend anti the other members of Her Majesty's Government might depend upon it that when they Caine to negociate with foreign countries for the abolition of the slave trade, they would find this Order in Council hanging like a millstone round their necks. It would require far less talent than was possessed by the French or Portuguese negociator to show that we could not be very sincere on the subject when we were thus opening a side-door to the admission of the evil with our eyes wide open to what must be the inevitable result. And what was the provision to which he had al luded, and which was to prevent the charge of insincerity That if the indenture was not witnessed before two magistrates on the coast of Africa or in the adjacent islands, it should be void I This was an example, not of mere negligence, but of complete igeoratice of the sub ject. There was not an individual belonging to the Society of Friends, or any other individual whose observation •during the last five and twenty or thirty years had rendered him familiar with the subject, who was not most anxious that the futility of this provision should be fully exposed. Why, the ships had only to go to the Mauritius, where there were plenty of magistrates, every one of whom would be glad to be an intermediate slave-trader. The individuals in question would be brought from Mozambique to the Mauritius, and would thence be takon to Guiana ; by which means all difficulty and danger would be avoided. And, besides, were there not the I3razils, and Rio Janeiro, and Monte Vides, and the Havannah ; at every one of which a doyen magistrates might be obtained at a moment's notice ? Yet 411 the provision which this notable Order made against abuse was that the indentures must be witnessed before two magistrates: Let their Lordships now lock a little at what had taken place in the Mauritius, and at the man. ner in which the promises made to the natives of Asia, who had been induced to go thither, had been observed. Its the examination on that subject, which had taken place by the order of the Government of Calcutta, a witness, in answer to a ques tion, whether any discontent had been exhibited by the Indian la. bourers, said that there had ; and for this reason, that in their own country they were happy wills their wives and families, that in consi deration of a small increase of wages they had been induced to hose their own country ; lost that they found that instead of any addition to their comfort, the reverse was the case, and they were therefore uneasy and dissontented. Mr. Scott, in his evidence, observed, " The main result of the inquiry leads to the conclusion, that the condition of the labourer practice:ly depends on the individual character °fin; employer, and that the term' of the agreement are of trifling importance com pared with the spirit in whieh they are carried into effect." Ile then went on to say, " With very rare exceptions were there any pleased with the bargain they had made. They all stated they had left Calcutta under the impression they were pima to the Company's rabousti (a word signifying " village"), which was the nava* the agents of the planters in India gave to the Mauritius." There were some who would say this sem " plausibly, if not juse4a" managed on the part of those agessts 1 but to his (Lord Bre s ogheross) mind it was wickedly, deceit. Sadly, artfully, crimpiegly • kidnappingly done, and that their con. duct should in wee' way and in every sense be reprehended and condemned, To be sure, they were told they were going to an island, but how could a person who never saw the sea know what an island meant Was there any possibility of explaining to these un fortunate natives what was the nature of a sea voyage, when, until they embarked, the sight of the ocean was a thing unknown to them ? Had the Noble Lord seen to all these matters ? The Noble Lord at the head of the colonial departmens was to be supposed as having applied his mind to these points by the fact of his having issued the Order its Council ; but at any rate, before he came to Parliament to maintain aud defend it, he must have maturely considered them. He then asked hint what hopes lie entertained, what expectations he cherished, what motions lie formed of the pessicllity of explaining to the Indian native, who never had seems the sea, what was the meaning of au island—what the nature of a sea voyage—what its sufferings, its privations, and, more important still, what it was awaited him when he came to the end of his voyage ? How could ho explain to him the nature of sugar planting, of hoeing under a tropical sun, and other labours under which the strongest and most seasoned have pined away ? What was the evidence before the House of the sufferings of these natives dur ing their voyage frosts India to Guiana? One vessel, the William IVil. son, left Calcutta with t. 14 slaves. What was the mertality before she accomplished her voyage ? Out of the 224 embarked, no less than 31 died vietinis of the pestilential atmosphere they were made to breathe in the vessel's hold. The Adelaide, another vessel, lett with 72 slaves ; 21 of those died on the passage. Great as had been the horrors detailed in the debates in Parliament during the years from 1788 to 1791, horrors which at the time were not believed, they had been surpassed by the statements, the uncontradicted, and there. rote it was to be presumed uncontradictable statements of the mortality its these Guiana slaves of late years. When they found that those statements were to the effect that a slave-vessel was supposed to make a profitable trip whets she brought into port one-half or one-third of her wretched chrgo, could there be a doubt of the absolute necessity of at once restoring the former discouragement to this horrid traffic, or, at all events, of taking away that encouragement which he contended the order of the 12`.11 of January gave to those embarked in it? Why, the very prilieiple of many of those Acts of Parliament rose up its judgment against the continuation of the enormity. Was it recollected that while they were allowing, without the possi bility of any check or controul, human beings to be cheated by their liberties through the exercise of every fraud and trick which counting ingenuity could devise or employ, its order that the sordid averice ofd few griping planters might be gratified, they had on their statute book a law, the humane principle of which was best to be collected from its preamble, in which it was recited that " Whereas its various parts"—not of the Mozambi que coast, not of Hindostan, not of the Indian empire, but of " this United Kingdom, persons have been seduced to leave their native country under false representations, and have suffered great hardships frosts the want of provisions and proper accommodation, and from no security being offered that they will be car ried to the ports to which they contracted to be brought, be it therefore enacted," &c. &c. Was there any security of this nature in the case of these slaves ? None whatever ; they were lett to the hopeless mercy of the planters' agents in India, and the result was to be seen in the melan choly return, of mortality to which he had referred. Therefore it is, my Lords (observed the Noble and Learned Lord), that I think it my indispenseible duty to drag before you this ill-starred Order in Ceuneil ; therefore it is that I have, at much pain to myself, gone through the anxious and almost agonising de tail which was to Ito found in the past history of the African slave-trade ; and therefore it is that I have, also at some pain to your Lordships, and with much fatigue to myself—a fatigue far more occasioned by the importance of the occasion than any want of incli nation to grapple with it, laid bars the enormity of this Order in Coun cil, and Its glaring inconsistency with the measure of slavery abolition passed a few years back. My Lords, I have now for more than a quar ter of it century the advocate of this great measure of abolition. I have stood forth at all times, since I arrived at man's estate, as its chain pion —as its zealous, active, and eager, but, God knows, its feeble and humble champion. I have been assisted its this object by the greatest luminaries the country ever produced, whether in the senate or at the bar—elevated to the ermine, or still practising in the fostuu ; with them I have followed its the same course, the same object, and all well hoped—those who are now no more, and those who still survive to venerate their names, and follow, as far as possible, their foot steps—that we had succeeded in puttiug down, anti that for ever, the monster traffic in human flesh. With such feelings, my Lords, I could not rest on my couch when I saw this Order in Council. I did not require to be visited by those friends of whom I have spoken—l did not need to be roused to action by the agitation of public meetings; nor did the multiplied applications of disinterested patriotism and pure and eious philanthropy constitute the sole ioducements I had to come for_ ward. No, my Lords, I could not slumber without seeing before me the visions of those great end good men who had Raised away, who appeared unable to taste their own retio% amt forbade me the aid of rust until I should lend my f;,;b:e , '"..stance to chase away the monster elegestrede tide that to which their more powerful efforts lied co,odemned it, as they had hoped, for ever. If, my Lords, it t i c tut given to us to imi tate their trensoendent virtoes, and ter tread in the footsteps of their glory, at least let us WO the deepest and meet substantial of their joys, and pause in the sunshine of tilt* approving inward conscience—a sun shine on which no actien of theirs ever east a shade, by uniting together for the achievement of the great object of their devoted lives—the dithtskoti of that must sacred blessing, liberty, throughout the globe. My Lords, I have now but to move a resolution. that " The Order in Council of the 12th of July last was improperly issued, a .d ought to be revoked.''—(The Noble and Learned Lord resulted his seat amid !cud cheers.) On the question being put from the Woolsack, the Noble and- Learned Lord had animadverted with ouch severity on Lord GLENELG rote. In the course of his very eloquent spe ec h, the Order in Council which was issued from the Colonial Department on the 1 eth of July last, and had spared a few terms of invective ;INDIA those who had issued it The Noble and Learned Lord had commcneed by complaining that the 0 der in question had been secretly 'Heed ;hit he (Lord Glene'g) begged to state that such was not the fart, The Order in Council of July, 1837, was issued precisely its the same Inalinei as all others during a series of past years. It was not the habit—Why It was not so he could not say—to publish Orders in Connell in 04 Gazelle ; and as none others on the subject, or ahy other, as he lerileVed, had found their way into that publication, the One in atirtialtlti was not there inserted. So much on that head, With rcSpeet to tire gernertet question, he had to observe, that if he could at all acquiesce in the, statements of the Noble and Learned Lord, he should not preetOP: e so offer any opposition to the motion with which he had croeslutt,',. As, hewever, the Noble and Learned Lord had, LI. 4 very th,,te„ runs line Rhea, roused the roouga thei'r Laldshipa witle relsect to Order , in COilliCa . Nit it heroine itictitint e „ t possible, the history of the trans. upon him to slip, as as action Which trininated in its issue, as well ail the exact poeition in which the parties connected with it were placed. He should commence by mentioning thet the old law of the colony of Guiana admitted the importation of labourers without restriction. Its the course of 1836 a law was passed by the Govern or an d C ouncil of Policy of the colony, with the view of regulatingthe relations bet ween the employers of labour and those I h .aeourers who should come to the colony under articles or indenture. That law, on being passed by the Colonial Legislation, was transmitted to this country fine approval. On examining it he found that though it was its some respects a restriction and improve ment on the previously existing law of the province, it still was °Wee tionable on several grounds. In the first place it proposed a period of; seven years employment. This period he thought wee too long, ano, h e accordingly had objected to it. He next objected to it because it '.rd not exclude all the natives of the continent of Africa; and then ti, eeet ,„ i t did not make any pecu'iar exception With respect to these I.7:oourers who might come from the West India Colonies where slavery ',ad existed. In consequence of theseobjactions, an Order in Council Was issued in March 1837, giving assent to the Act of the Colonial Legislature, but with most important alterations, 'which he should now proceed to detail. The first was the reduction of the proposed period of seven years service to that of three , years. In fixing this latter period. his object had been to maintain' the principle, which he thought a Just one, that the employer of the labourers should be entitled, through their labour, to receive fair compensation for his expense in bringing them over and ineentai il i eg them ; but, in order that the slave should have no cause of complaint, and that nothing but the bare measure of justice should. be meted to the employer, the order in council provided that if, before the third year expired, any of the individual labourers could prove that his employer had been compensated, he might claim his immediate freedom. So far with regard to the labourers generally. With respect to the labourers from the West India colonies, in which slavery had been. abolished, he had made a further exception. In their case he reduced the period of employment from three to one year, also providing, that if, before the expiration of that period, ire could prove that the ex. pease to which his employer had been put inn bringing him to the country had been reimbursed him he might claim his freedom. Another important alteration in The Act of the Colonial Leglitature had reference to the protection of the labourers. The Act placed them un. der the protection of the Sheriff and Justices of the province. By the Order in Council this duty was transferred to the Magistrates appointed under the Slavery Abolition Act, Another alteration made by the Or. der in Council was the exclusion from Guiana of all labourers from the continent of Africa, or islands peopled in part or fully by the negro po puletion ; and in this state, and with these modifications, the Act of the Co:onsial Legislature was sent back to the colony. Shortly after an application was made with respect to the Indian labourers, and it was stated that these Indian labourers could not be introduce.' into the pros iece of Guiana unless the period of their employment was ex. tended to five years ; and in answer to a demand from the Colonial. otilee, as to why such extended period was necessary, a calculation was transmi tee, proving clearly that a shorter period of labour could slot reimburse the employer the expense. he would have to incur in the transmission of the labourer. He had accordingly deemed it expe dient to extend tie period to fire years, but with this accompani. merit, that if within that period the labourer could prove that his em ployer had been repaid the expenses incurred, he might not merely claim his immediate freedom, but a passage home at the expense of tine employer. It, however, he had to serve the five years, he should then, under any circuinstanees, be sent house free of expense by hie employer. In addition to all this, it was to be recollected that the Order in Coun cil, from which such disastrous consequences were apprehended, was to expire in August 1840, If there were injustice inn the matter, it might last until that period, but then it must cease, unless a new law authorizing a continuance of the system were enacted. P. was alleged by the Noble an Learned Lord, as an argument against the Orit^er ins Council, that it was issued before it was known whether the lie:tian Go verninent would pass any law on the subject. That "as certainly true; but it was well known that the matter was uniaOr the considera tion of the Indian Government, and there seas livery reason to pre sume that that Government would do it; duty respecting it, and pass the very law which subsequedly they slid enact. The Noble and Learned Lord had then I: cued that there was no protections held out by the Order IR Commit for the good treatment of the labourers. He contend:. -d that as far as Guiana was concerned thepro. tection was complete,. The indenture was to be made inn the presence of the maaistraee, mid they were placed under the peculiar protection of the Executive Government of the colony; and at any period wilco it was the power of the labourer to reimburse his eniployer, the en. ga;ement might he dissolved and a passage home claimed. It was alleged by the Noble and Learned Lord that the Act passed by the Bengal Go. vernment was not adequate- He denied it, and contended that the In. dials Government had most effectually secured the objects the Act had inn view. In the first place it provided that no person could be era. barked at any port without the special permission of the Governor, Ur person appointed by him. This persons was to see that medical at. tendance was provided, rod that security should be taken tor the return cf the parties as soon as the period for which they were engaged had expired, at tine expense of those engtee . ing them.-- (Hear, hear, hear.) These were strong enactments and if they were f mud at all defective, the Government would be ree.dy to remedy them. But it was clear that the Government had 'the power of carrying them into operation, and that they had done so, as far as they had hitherto proceeded. So, h teen, a Verfect security was given for carrying proper measures into operatirea, both by the acts of those who had the management cf Guiana. and by the law passed by the Indian Gtv. seafront. But his Noble l 'rientl alluded to the case of the Mauri. taus, and stated that those evils which were apprehended had occurred in that place. His Noble and Learned Fr iend had said, " Let us not consult the 'planters, who a: e interested persons; we don't know what the et - ;re of the Mauritius is ;we don't know how the labourers live; let us, therefore, Like the evidence of a witness who is competent to speak to the question—let us bear what Mr. Scott says." Unquestion. ably, Mr. Scott stated that he found many labourers inn a state of diecom. fort, and he stated in particular one cause of their being so, namely, their igno. - ance of the language, though it should be recollected that they acted under the gtedance of one of their number, who took the °lnce of chief. Now, the statement drawn up by Mr. Scott was made before any regulations were entered bib either by the Indian Govern ment or that of 3leuritius. Lord BROUGHA el begged to explain. What he had stated was, teat the Order in Council enabled the Government to do that between Madras, Bombay, Pondicherry, and Guiana which Mr. Scott's letter showed had taken place in the Mauritius. Lord GLENELG resumed : Mr. Scott showed that the. labourers lett India without knowing the particulars of their engagement, the place where they were to go, or 'the purposes for which they were en. gaged, or the time fur which they were to remain, and that in conse. quence feuds and dissentious arose between them. Mr. Scott urged that the best mode of correcting these evils was to limit the period of their servitude, and to give security that they should be enabled to rotion at the expens^ of their employers, It was on the consideration of the remarks of Mr. Scott that the Bengal Act was passed for the remedy of the evils which be had enumerated. A correspondence had taken place between the governments of Madras and Bombay and that of Mauri tius, which led bins to believe that the seine strong regulations would be a topted in the former places as those already acted upoh In the last place which he had mentioned. Although his Noble and Learned Friend seem eal to consider those securities of little avail, he confessed 'ee differed from that opinion. But should difficulties arise within the two years and a half which remained it would he easy to meet them as they occurred. His Noble Friend had urged, though he did not much insist on the point, that the negro would be encroached upon in his peculiar field. The apprehension was that after 1840 the negroes, being accustomed to a tropical climate, and being able to pro cure sustenance with ease, would abandon their labour, spread over the country, and refuse to assist in raising its productions. Now, thought other considerations ought naturally to occupy our attention, that uu. tioubtedly was a contingency which ought not to be overlooked— by the Government. He knew there were some persons—he ut. ter) , disclaimed the allusion as applying to any Noble Lord in that House, or his Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Brougham) in particu. lar—but he was aware there were some pet sons out of doors who really seemed to forget that the great commercial and powerful interests of the colonies were mainly concerned in the result of the experiment of 1840, namely, whether at that period we should be enabled to retain the labour now expended on the staple products o. our West India possessions P Greet and important as that considera tion was, did he mean to contend Gest :to greater difficulty attended the settlement of this question P Far from it. But he ineinteined that it was worth while to take the most solemn precautions against the abuse of the freedom about to be conferred on the negro race, and that this topic ought to form one amongst the subjects of paramount impor. lance to this country, when the proposed change was to be effected. Those countries had grown and flourished under a system which met with our dete,tation. But why should it be concluded that the curse of slavery was so affixed to the nature of the negroes as that the pos. sessions which they cultivated should no longer form the glory and strength of this great nation ? He did slot believe that this was the necessary consequence of bestowing freedom on the negroes ; but those persons to whom he had alluded, its their laudable anxiety to do justice to the human race, and to exercise humanity towards their fellowereaturese seemed totally to forget the interests of their British fellew-subjects, and almost to anticipate with exultation the prospect of visiting with vengeance the descendants of those who failed in their duty to. wards the negroes, and who, if they were involved in that crime, did so in common with the Legislature.—(Hear, hear.) He denied that any person conld fairly charge bins with wilfully neglecting the duty which he owed to the negro race ; and he felt bound to take every means In his power to secure that result—not to the expulsion of the negroes, not to the injury aim) , other class of labourers—but with ajust view, at least, to the interests of the colony, and with a determination to prove that the strength and commercial resources of the country and of the West Indies were not extinguished because slavery was taken hway from that country. He wished to see slavery suppressed all over the world ; but did they think that they would promote the cause of universal free. dons if other nations were to perceive that, with the abolition of slavery, they deerayed the resources which they derived from their once. flourishing possessions ? Did they imagine they would try the seine experiment ? Or was it impossible that a better result might not be effected ? He trusted that, without any degree of injustice or oppression, It might be possible to introduce labourers who would stimulate the negroes to action, and whose con. debt would maintain the resources and power of our West Indian colo. isles. He preferred to labour for the attainment of this object than to adopt a course of policy by which the colonies would be gradually ins. poverished, the greatness of this kingdom impaired, and the ruin of Britigh subjects effected, without doing any good to the negro popula. lion. If once the negroes were found to distribute themselves in idle-, ness throughout the country, they would quickly subside Into a state *f barbarism, in which the wealth of our British fellow-subjects wooed be of no benefit to the negro, with whose lot we should cease to, s y mpa . these, because we should be compelled to do so at the sacretlce of our national advantag., and interests. For these reasons he should oppose the resolutions of his Nolele and Learned Friend.—(Fear.) The Duke of WELT.INGTON hail looked wit'e the greatest attention to the papers on the table, and listened with the utmost admiration to the speech of etas Noble and Learned Lord. He felt, indeed, that much of trio speech of the Noble anal Learned Lord adverted to a part this suejcct, and to some of those papers, which had no im me di ate • relation to the subject under discussion—he meant as to the removal os a ou Celefrom b • the Ea.t Indies into the Mauritius or Guiana. The first Order in Council—and, he must say, that which fell particularly under . the discussion of the Noble and Learned Lord—elle not refer itn. m-diately to this subject, but only incidentally, so far as it re lilted to labourers when introduced into the colonies of Guiana . and the Mauritius, which proceeding was laid under the reips. r lation—and, as he thought, the beneficial regulation—el that feee: d,r in Council. It was the other Order in Council—the, t o e which petwittW the iinvortation of labou rers f rom the East. P.idies